I had written out some questions, but first I mentioned the I.N.S. story.
“Were you quoted correctly on the Mantell case?” I asked.
“Yes, I was.” Major Boggs looked me squarely in the eye. “Captain Mantell was chasing the planet Venus.”
It was so incredible that I shook my head. “Major, Venus; was practically invisible that day. We’ve checked with astronomers. Is that the official Air Force answer?”
“Yes, it is,” Boggs said. His eyes never left my face. I glanced across at General Sory Smith, then back at the intelligence major.
“That’s a flat contradiction of Project ‘Saucer’s’ report. Last April, after they had checked for fifteen months, they said positively it was not Venus. It was still unidentified.”
Boggs said, in a slow, unruffled voice, “They rechecked after that report.”
“Why did they recheck, after fifteen months?” I asked him. “‘They must have gone over those figures long before that, for errors.”
If my question annoyed him, Boggs gave no sign.
There’s no other possible answer,” he said. “Mantell was chasing Venus.”